1964 Ford F-100 - Canadian Castruck

Hey, stock car race fans, have you ever wondered what a truck class would’ve looked like in 1964? Well, Ken McNeil from Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, always loved stock car racing and up until recently the Canadian version of NASCAR was called CASCAR. NASCAR purchased the Canadian CASCAR series and renamed it Canada NASCAR series, as the headline CASTRUCK hints at.

2/9

In 1979 Ken purchased the ’64 F-100 and drove for two years in the stock form. Between Ken’s day job and crewing for a local Canadian oval track team the truck was put on the back burner. His original plans were to replace only the tired straight-six and tranny with a Ford 302/four-speed combo. In the mid ’80s Ken installed a front clip from a Ford LTD and the V-8 combo. That combo would last through the ’80’s drag race scene until a buddy of Ken’s recommended that he build the truck for handling. Ken thought about it for 10 years and decided to pull the plug and build a full-on NASCAR chassis for his truck, with the handling included.

He did his research and discovered the track width of a Cup car was the same as his truck’s. Ken started collecting parts from various NASCAR teams and somehow got a hold of a set of Jeff Gordon’s lower control arms from an ’02 road course car. I asked Ken if he knew if the control arms had some track time and he said: “They looked brand new when I got them but I really don’t know. I like to pretend they were on the track.” After numerous trips to North Carolina to purchase NASCAR parts from his contacts, Ken contracted good friend and race car owner John Fletcher to build him a Stock Car-style chassis for his ’64 Ford.

3/9

John agreed on the chassis build and to get it rolling on its own with the help of the NASCAR-style suspension. The chassis was completed and shipped back to Canada to Keith Sim Metal Craft for rust repair and overall sheetmetal fitment. Ken wanted the stock truck bodylines but there were some fitment issues with the rear wheeltubs, and the front inner fenderwells needed to be modified to fit the new control arms, shocks, plus the tires and wheels. When the sheetmetal mods and bodywork were completed Ken and friends fit all the necessary hoses and lines for the fuel system, brakes, and transmission.

The truck was then fit with a Ford Lightning 351 bored .030 over. The bottom end uses the stock Lighting crank, Eagle rods, 10:1 Probe forged pistons, and Ford Racing 2303 hydraulic camshaft. Aluminum Edelbrock Performer RPM heads and intake free up some usable power on the top end, the whole thing capped off with a Holley 750 Truck Avenger carb. The exhaust system is comprised of Hedman 15⁄8-inch headers feeding into a one-off 3-inch tubing using MagnaFlow 55 Turbo mufflers.

4/9

Then the complete truck was disassembled and final bodywork was prepped and cleaned for paint by Charlie Cocklin, who spent countless hours sanding. The truck made its way over to BJ Custom Refinishing of Waterdown, Ontario, Canada, to have the DuPont Blue paint laid down. The truck spent the next six months slowly being reassembled to perfection. Ken would like to give a special thanks to Ken Norrie, Charlie Cocklin, John Fletcher, Doug Barclay, Duncan Ackerman, and Don Tipping for all the help with building his special ’64 CASTRUCK. Fast trucks go left! CT